Architect to Add Self-Sustaining Rotating Towers to City Skylines

An Italian architecture firm has announced a proposal to build a series of 360 degree rotating skyscrapers in some of the world’s most dynamic cities.

Dynamic Architecture Group is behind the ambitious project, which will not only deliver visually striking structures but buildings that are self-sustaining through strategic environmental principles and intricate engineering.

The first proposal calls for an 80-storey rotating skyscraper in Dubai named Dynamic Tower. The tower will rotate 360 degrees every 90 minutes.

Dynamic Tower was originally proposed in 2008 and, like many other construction projects, fell prey to the global financial crisis, a lack of planning permissions and a downturn in the Dubai property market.

If approved, Dynamic Tower will surpass the rotation of the world’s current tallest rotating tower, the Cayan Tower in Dubai, which twists 90 degrees from top to bottom.

The skyscraper’s rotation will be powered by the installation of 79 giant wind turbines attached to each floor. Solar power will generate the electricity for the building along with the rotation. The firm says it will mark the first time a skyscraper is entirely powered by wind and sun.

It will also be the first time a building won’t differentiate apartments by view as the towers will offer ever-changing views for residents.

A 70-storey rotating tower is also proposed for London with Milan, Moscow, New York, Paris and Rome also in the pipeline.

Dr David Fisher, Dynamic Architecture Group

Embedding skylines with motion through rotating towers will become common sights in forward-thinking cities, said Dynamic Architecture Group founder and chairman Dr David Fisher.

“For the first time ever, buildings will be able to become part of life,” Dr Fisher states on his firms website. “…(they) will have four dimensions adding the dimension of ‘time” he said. “All cities in the world deserve to host their Dynamic buildings, be they high-or-low-rise, be they residential, hotel or commercial – to become icons of the future.”

This will also be Fisher’s first skyscraper venture.

“I did not design skyscrapers, but I feel ready to do so,” he said in an interview with Associated Press. “You can build anything.”

This project will also support the architectural firm’s global vision of creating “rural” rather than “urban” cities where vertical buildings will be immersed in the countryside.

Architecturally, the “intelligent” towers planned will be wrapped in smart envelope technology in which building facades interact with external climate conditions to ensure indoor comfort and regulate and reduce energy.

“The Smart Grid arises from actual needs in the usage of the energy,” Fisher explained on his firm’s site. “Over the next two decades our energy infrastructure will undergo changes similar to those which rippled through the media and telecommunication industries over the past twenty years.”

Wind and sun powered skyscrapers

It has also been reported that the towers will be built entirely through prefabrication, offering customisable apartments, with Fisher claiming that each floor will only take six days to assemble once concrete foundations are in place.

The Daily Mail reports the Dynamic Tower has a price tag of £355 with limited information released on the other project.